Mike Bennett reviews the latest from Jeff Kelly, The Emergency, RockFour and The Afternoons. Mike also presents capsule reviews of releases by Oneida, Scott Laurent, Aerospace, David Dondero, Her Majesty's Buzz, Field Trip, The M's, The Smallgoods and Moonbabies. Mike also has another CD-R of The Month. Gary Glauber reviews the latest from Easterly, Edward Rogers, Honeydogs and Splitsville. Kurt Sampsel reviews a reissue by The Deep Six. David Fufkin reviews Air's Talkie Walkie.

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February 9, 1964 Revisited Forty Years Later

by Michael Lynch

Okay, okay, you all know about the impact of the February 9, 1964 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. You know its historical importance. You know 73 million people watched. And if you didn't know that, there have been plenty newspaper and magazine articles lately detailing such things.

But here's a lookback of that legendary hour of television that goes for a different approach: This one sticks solely with what happened...not what it meant to America, or how it changed culture overnight, but just the actual events of the really big shoe's really biggest shoe of 'em all:

Shortly before 8:00...

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Frank Sinatra, Neil Tennant and Two Songs

by Kurt Hernon

"Neil Tennant should have done this one," a friend says as Sinatra speak/sings from the stage at the old Sands Hotel and Casino. It's quarter to three / there's no one in the place / 'cept you and me / set 'em up Joe / I gotta little story / I think you should know. Bill Miller's piano nods in agreement with Mr. Sinatra. A bartender rinses glasses and chews on a toothpick, never noticing the single warm spotlight shining down on the dapper man in shirtsleeves and a loosened bow tie, his overcoat at hat sitting neatly upon a stool beside him. Just another guy done wrong by a girl, the bartender thinks to himself. He's heard...

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Mainstream Rock Criticism: Few Students and Fewer Explorers

by Mike Bennett

I was at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago, talking about rock music. A big surprise, huh? As the discussion flowed, me and a friend got to talking about critics. And my friend mentioned Greg Kot, rock critic for the Chicago Tribune. Specifically, he said, "You agree with him most of the time, don't you?" I reflexively said no, but before I could really explain why, something interrupted our discussion. It might...

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The World is Round: Relevance, or the Lack Thereof

by Alan Haber

Well, it's been one hell of a couple of weeks in our pop culture-centric world. Let's recap: the guy who invented the control-alt-delete key combo for PCs retired, leaving millions of computers in tears, locked up at half-mast; Britney married an old friend and before you could say "Oops, she did it again!", she divorced him, driving at least one musically-challenged sod in Iowa to pledge his allegiance to silence; a couple of dairy-challenged guys showing cows...

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Gary Pig Gold Presents A Fab Forty

by Gary Pig Gold

Has it really been four decades already since television’s greatest-ever talent scout took a chance on a brash young musical novelty act from far-off Britain? Yes, even to those who weren’t extremely tuned into the 2/9/64 “Ed Sullivan Show,” the look, spunk, and above all sound of J, P, G & R continues to ring within eyes and ears this whole world over. But nobody needs me to tell them that.

So instead, I thought I’d pick...

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Further Observations of a Jangly Music Fan

by Eric Sorensen

It has been two months since I last wrote about the latest jangly releases, and there are plenty of recommendations to share with www.fufkin.com site readers. I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday season … and had fun digesting the "Best of 2003" lists that were featured in last month's website update. Without any further delays, here are some of the new discs and new songs that have been receiving lots of play on my home stereo:

The Action Musik reissue of Ric Menck's The Ballad...

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So Much Music....So Little Time

by Kevin Mathews

People in Singapore were not surprised to find out that January 2004 was one of the wettest ever recorded in history in the island state. Some might say that after the extremely difficult year that was 2003, the unexpected showers signify that 2004 may indeed be better. For now, it appears that the floodgates have opened and the blessings will come like a tidal wave!

Musically, 2003 was...

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Better Late than Never

by James Baumann

Due to illness, holiday madness, general procrastination, and the nagging feeling that there were still a few discs out there that I needed to hear to make my research complete, I hereby apologize for the lateness of this list and gratefully submit the (most likely) last "Best of 2003" list you're gonna see.

This year there was no clear-cut "number one" as there has been in the past. At the same time, it was difficult to pare my...

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Janet Jackson Exposed

by David Fufkin

You know, with all the great music events that happened in January, it really is a shame that Janet Jackson's exposed breast received the most press coverage last month. Many people were offended by the stunt.

For the record, my opinion is that Janet Jackson is a publicity hound with a career in decline. She should not have done what she did, but I don't understand what the big deal is. With so many world problems and with so much great music happening, should we really care?

Does anyone with a brain...

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